A Prowler
by Mustard Lady
Summary: Someone has snuck into the Sloans' home in the dead of night. Is it a criminal? Who is it and what does he/she want? The Sloan family is in for a surprise!
1. Chapter 1 Surprise Visitor

**This is my very first Diagnosis Murder fanfic ever! Okay, so maybe it's not the best, but I'm planning to write more and hope do better ones than this. My family has enjoyed the show for years, and we are finally getting it on DVD. I don't own DM or the characters. I do own Stacy and 'Kat' Katherine, and Annie.**

 **I don't own Sue Thomas FBEye either, but the opening scene of the episode "Adventures in Babysitting" gave me the inspiration for this little story.**

 **I hope someone likes this.**

* * *

19-year-old Stacy Sloan felt a cold, wet nose nudging her arm. Stacy wanted to stay asleep. She didn't feel like waking up. Then she felt a soft, warm tongue licking her face. "Oh, all right." Stacy sighed and opened her eyes. Annie, the Australian Shepherd was right in her face. "What do you want, girl?" Stacy moaned and glanced at her alarm clock: 3:30 A.M. Annie kept nudging her wrist. "What is it?" She asked again in exasperation.

Annie trotted toward the door and kept looking back to Stacy. "You want me to let you out?" Stacy inquired, pulling her bathrobe on and followed the dog outside of the bedroom into the hallway. Annie lowered her head and growled lowly. Stacy's eyes widened as she tip-toed after the dog. She was considering calling for her dad, Steve but decided first to find out the dog was getting frazzled about. Annie stopped at the closed bathroom door. The light underneath the crack was on, revealing that someone was in there. Stacy shook her head and knelt down next to the dog.

"Is that all?" She chuckled. "Annie, _really._ This is ridiculous. You're silly. It's probably just Kat." She smiled, scratching Annie's ears. The door slightly opened ajar as the light inside was turned off. "It's just me, Kat. Annie got all..." Stacy stopped when she saw an unfamiliar, short figure standing in front of her! It was very dark, but from what she was able to make out, it was definitely a man, and not Steve or Mark!

"Aaaaahhhhh!" Stacy screeched at the top of her lungs. The man screamed too, taken very much by surprise. Annie barked ferociously. "DAD! Dad, come quick!" At her first loud scream that had reached his ears, Steve had been instantly jerked awake from a sound sleep and had snatched up his pistol then scrambled out of bed. Without thinking as she continued to shriek, calling for Steve, Stacy charged forward and rammed herself into the guy, sending him backwards down the stairs. The guy groaned as he thudded loudly in his tumble. Stacy turned and quickly grabbed a glass vase from the table against the wall, swinging her arms back. Heavy footsteps were pounding behind her as Steve's tall, large silhouette rushed passed and cautiously approached the culprit lying miserably at the bottom of the stairs.

"Stay back!" Steve commanded her and raised his pistol as he trumped down the stairs. Stacy leaned over the edge of the railing to watch, keeping her weapon ready for action."Freeze! Don't move a muscle or I'll shoot!" Steve bellowed, aiming his gun straight down at the guy and pressing his foot hard onto the fellow's torso to keep him down. The prowler gasped and groaned.

"Steve? What's going on?!" Mark exclaimed as he appeared behind Stacy, clasping Steve's old walking cane in his fist.

"What is it? What happened?!" Stacy's 16 almost 17-year-old sister Katherine 'Kat' asked as she emerged from her bedroom, holding one of her small weight lifts out for self-defense.

"I've got him. Dad? Turn on the lights." Steve ordered, not removing his gaze or his gun from the person helplessly pinned beneath him. Stacy and Kat both crept down the stairs after their grandpa, tightly clenching their weapons, in case the guy made a break.

"S...ah! S...St..." The culprit tried to breathe. Mark reached the wall and, raising the cane in his other hand, flipped on the light switch. Everyone gaped and gasped in shock.


	2. Chapter 2 The Culprit

" _JESSiE?!"_ The whole Sloan clan sputtered out together. Indeed, it was their good friend Dr. Jessie Travis, lying flat on his back on the floor, gasping, squirming underneath Steve's heavy foot pressing on his stomach, and keeping his arms raised in front of his face to protect himself. As he frightfully looked up, he was surrounded by Mark, Steve, Stacy, Kat, and Annie.

" _Jessie!"_ Stacy blurted out and lowered the vase in her hands but leaned directly over her good friend. "You practically gave me a heart attack!" She exclaimed. Steve sighed in aggravation and lowered his gun.

"W-what about me?!" Jessie sputtered pitifully, finally finding his voice. "Y-you don't expect to open up a bathroom door at 3:30 in the morning and find four armed people and a dog! Not...not to mention getting trampled on by the heaviest, biggest member in the joint!"

"Yeah, well, it shouldn't come as a surprise if you've just broken into someone's house!" Kat scolded.

"Jess, _what_ are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Mark asked with an edge in his voice.

"Well, for starters, I really needed a little first aid." Jessie said defensively. "And do you have any idea how mauled I probably am now from practically getting tossed across the house by a cop's daughter?"

" _Jessie,"_ Steve glowered in annoyance, coldly staring down at his friend, "what the heck is going on?"

"Well, I know I took ya by surprise and I don't blame ya for getting upset that I got you out of your beds..." Jessie rambled timidly.

"I see your lips moving, Jess," Steve remarked, "but you're not saying anything!"

"Well, maybe I could talk better if you'd get your big foot off of my guts!" Jessie retorted back.

"Let him up, Steve." Mark sighed, shaking his head.

"No." Steve said. "Not 'til he explains how and why he decided to and managed to break in."

"I got a flat on my way home," Jessie said, "and I guess 'cause I was up so late that I left my flashlight at home. I was gonna try to change the tire and use the spare, but it was too dark and I didn't want to get killed by any passersby, so I was making my way back to the door, and I...I..."

"You _what?"_ Steve asked impatiently.

"It turns out that I, uh...I locked myself out of the car. My, uh, keys are still in the ignition." Jessie mumbled.

"Now that was real smart." Steve muttered.

"Accidents happen, Steve." Mark said calmly. "But that still doesn't explain, what you're doing here before dawn."

"You said that you hurt yourself?" Stacy asked.

Jessie pursed his lips in embarrassment. "Well, I didn't want to call the police or anyone to help me get back in. I did that once before, and it took them 2 hours before they arrived! So, I decided the safest way was to break open the window. So, I took my shoe off, kept my hand inside it and tried to blast it through the glass."

"Jessie, you didn't!" Stacy gasped.

"Did it work?" Kat asked. Steve glanced at her incredulously.

"That was dangerous, Jessie!" Mark exclaimed.

"Stupid too." Steve muttered.

"Don't be so funny, Steve." Jessie moaned.

"I'm not." Steve smirked.

"Yeah, I learned that real quick. I wasn't too far from here, so I walked over and decided to get some gauze and stuff from your bathroom without waking you up."

"You still haven't explained _how_ you managed to get inside." Kat said.

"Uh, that's confidential. I'm afraid I can't answer that." Jessie said. Steve finally lifted his foot up and Jessie gasped loudly. He wanted to keep Steve's suspicious cylinders rolling, with the detective completely forgetting about the copied house key that he and Mark had given to both Jessie and Amanda. He enjoyed pushing Steve's buttons.

"Jessie, look at your arm!" Stacy pointed to the younger doctor's right arm. The sleeve was torn, with tiny shards of glass all over, and streaks of blood.

"Oh. It's just a few little cuts, Stace. I'll be okay." Jess smiled.

"Come on, Jess. We'll get you fixed up." Mark stated, helping his colleague up off the floor. Steve shook his head multiple times as he watched his dad tend to Jessie's lacerations. Stacy and Kat watched, and handed Mark whatever items he requested. Annie was long gone in a content slumber upstairs in the hallway. "Kat, could you hand me that adhesive tape again, please?" Mark asked.

"Sure. Here you go." Kat obeyed.

"Thanks, sugar." Mark said, and cut a piece of it off before pressing it on another small scrap of gauze on Jessie's arm.

"I hope you don't make a night job of this, Jess." Stacy said sarcastically, crossing her arms.

"Of what?" Jessie raised his eyebrows.

"Loitering around your patients' homes, and then trying to scare them to death."

" _Excuse me!"_ Jessie blurted out. "Uh, who scared whom?"

"You really scared me, Jess." Stacy remarked.

" _I_ scared _you?_ The way you all ganged up on me I thought I was a goner! I honestly thought I was gonna be smashed, clobbered, trampled on, and shot!"

"Well, next time give us a little notice ahead of time, will ya?" Steve scolded.

"Jess, you could've just called and asked." Mark said. "We would've helped you."

"I didn't want you guys to know why I needed to come here in the first place." Jessie bit his lip.

"Jess, those things happen." Kat smiled. "A few months from now this will be a funny memory."

"That's right." Stacy agreed. Mark grinned and shook his head.

"Funny?" Steve gaped. "I don't call being jerked out of bed in the middle of the night from hearing my daughters screaming and finding an intruder in the house funny."

"Aw, Dad. Where's your sense of humor?" Stacy asked. "And he's not an intruder." Jessie smiled smugly at Steve when he heard the girls speaking up for him. Steve sighed and pursed his lips.

"Uh-huh." He grunted. "Well, considering the circumstances, I'll let you off this time, Jess. But don't pull a stunt like that again, or you'll run into something more dangerous than a broken window." Jessie backed up in his seat.

"Hey, I already did run into something more dangerous!" Jessie exclaimed. "You all make a very threatening group if you get too riled."

"Yeah." Steve grinned. "And don't you forget it either." He pointed his finger in his friend's face.

"You use those threats on him a lot, Dad. But he always manages to find away around them." Kat chuckled.

"You know, they're right, Steve." Mark nodded in agreement.

"Come on. Let's go, Jess." Steve sighed. "Let me get my shoes on and I'll take you to your car."

"Aw. Hey, yeah. Thanks." Jessie smiled, standing up. "Mark, thanks for the...you know."

"Anytime, Jessie." Mark smiled. "But I strongly advise you not to do it again."

"Don't worry." Jessie shook his head. "You think I wanna get surrounded again by the provoked Sloan mob? Who carry lethal weapons? Aw, ha, ha. Not me. I've got a lot of good years left in me, and I don't wanna lose them to a genius doctor and a hard-headed cop. Or armed cop's daughters."

"Sorry about that, Jess." Stacy grinned sheepishly.

"That ought to teach you a good lesson for next time." Mark said.

"Well, thank you all for not taking a piece out of me!" Jessie grinned.

"Come on, Jess!" Steve called from the kitchen. "I'd still like to get some sleep before my alarm goes off!"

"Coming! Thanks, guys."

"Steve!" Mark called after his son.

"What is it now, Dad?" Steve groaned.

"You're not going out dressed like that are you?" Mark snickered. Steve was still in his white muscle tank and plaid pajama shorts. Stacy and Kat giggled.

"It's just a quick ride, Dad. And right now, I'm so tired I really don't care. Let's go, Jess!" Jessie waved bye and followed Steve out the door. Mark and his granddaughters laughed.

"Well, I think we better go to bed." Mark chuckled.

"I can't help it, but sometimes Dad makes me laugh when he gets nervy." Stacy smiled.

"Me too." Kat agreed.

"I think he's truly as amused as we are, he just doesn't want Jessie to know it." Mark said. "Come on." The girls headed for the stairs and Mark turned off the lights behind them.

"You gonna tell Amanda about this?" Stacy grinned.

"If I don't, she'll find out some way." Annie was sprawled out on the floor, sleeping peacefully right in the pathway. "Whoops. That's not the best place to be resting." Mark chuckled, shaking his head.

"Annie? Annie, come on." Kat said to the dog. Annie just turned on her side.

" _Annie,"_ Stacy laughed with her hands on her hips, and lightly touched the Australian Shepherd with her foot. The dog woke up and but only stretched and decided to stay there. "I wouldn't do that, puppy, if I were you."

"Okay, she wants to stay there, it's her choice." Mark shrugged. "Good-night, girls."

"Good-night, Grandpa." Both girls laughed and went back to their own beds.

* * *

What was supposed to be a 5 minute trip had turned into a twenty minute trip for Steve. For one thing, he and Jessie had to clean up the mess of broken glass in Jessie's driver seat, plus it had been on the ground too, so they both tried to clean it up. Steve was grateful that he had put his shoes on! When all seemed clear, Jessie had tried to start his car, but his battery was dead. So, Steve had called a tow truck, much to Jessie's protests, and then told Jessie good-night.

The rest of the family was still awake from the night's excitement and heard Steve enter the house. He was complaining to himself as he stepped up the stairs. He was near Kat's and Stacy's bedroom doorways when he stumbled over something and the creature scrambled to her feet. "Go away, dog. Don't get in my way like that." Steve growled and attempted to go to bed before he had to get up in an hour and a half. Mark and his granddaughters were laughing in their beds as they listened. Steve heard their voices from their open doors and gaped in surprise and annoyance.

"Go to sleep!" He glowered and they heard him shut his door. A few seconds later it opened again. _"Annie,_ get out of here." Steve sighed in exasperation. Nails were heard clicking on the hall wood floor. "Good-night, _dog."_ Then he made one more attempt to get in bed before he had to leave for work in a couple hours.

Mark shook his head happily then shifted his position in bed to where his head lay on the pillow _just right._ He smirked to himself picturing how Steve was going to rant on Jessie in the future about tonight, with Jessie getting defensive, sparking Amanda's interest. Yes, the Sloan family certainly enjoyed a full life!


End file.
